The Lonely Flower and the Drunken Ninja
by Zelos36
Summary: 3 Years of peace have passed, and Konoha has been restored to its former glory. Sakura has since moved out and onto her own, but as a series of events come into her previously boring life, her world is flipped upside down. Will she discover what she really desires? And what obstacles will she have to pass to accomplish her ultimate goal?
1. Reunion

**Hey guys! So if you've seen anything about my profile you'll see this is my first ever fanfiction. I'd really like to hear your guys opinions, because I never really am a fan of what I write, so it'd be nice to have some outside opinions.**

**I obviously don't own Naruto, and all that jazz, I'm not making any money from this!**

Sakura awoke to the sun shining directly on her face, and a pulsing headache. She sat up in her double-sized bed, and rubbed her eyes. _I can already tell today is going to be great…_ She thought, letting out a sigh. After lazily getting out of bed and brushing her teeth, she walked to the kitchen in search of something to eat. She looked at the clock and saw that she had slept in late; it was 11:44 AM. Not that it really mattered anymore, life was peaceful, and had been for 3 years, so she didn't have any deadlines to meet. She opened the fridge and sighed; she had come home late last night, and forgot that yesterday she was supposed to go food shopping. She reached in, and grabbed an apple (which turned out to be squishy), and threw it in the trashcan in disgust. The fridge was barren other than a half empty pint of milk now, which she didn't dare even check the expiration date on, and a small amount of wine left in the bottle. She didn't normally drink, but on days where she was feeling sad or stressed, it helped to relax her. Living by herself turned out to be more of a chore than privilege at times, it seemed. Due to the fact she had to go out and shop, she had to shower and get ready for the day. She couldn't do what she normally did and laze around in sweatpants with bed-head. She undressed for the shower, and sighed as she looked at her own body. She was still very fit, but that's not what was bothering her. Her breasts were still small, smaller than almost every other woman's in the village. She was 18 now, and had barely had any growth since she was 15. She easily fit her hands over her small breasts, and let out a loud 'huff'. _So small, especially compared to Hinata's or Ino's. _She briefly thought of the latter, who had been on her mind non-stop as of late. She quickly broke her train of thought and stepped into the shower, remembering what her original task was.

As Sakura finished drying her hair and getting clean, she looked in the mirror. She looked fine, not pretty, _never pretty_. She had never seen herself as attractive, especially since the only people she ever had attracted were weirdoes (and Naruto, who counted as a weirdo, but a close friend, too). Almost every girl in the village either had, or could easily find, an attractive man to be with, (or at least someone who made them happy, in Hinata and Naruto's case), but of course not her. She put on her shoes and left the house, no need to lock it as everyone in the Hidden Leaf were respectable people. The village had made a great comeback in the 3 years, with it pretty much restored to its former glory. The problem with Sakura was that she had gone her whole life looking for a man, and chasing after Sasuke for a long time, that she had pretty much given up. Or at least that's what she liked to tell herself. She didn't like the thought of what crossed her mind and what it could mean, but at the same time it made her happier in her fantasies. See, because in the past couple of years men slowly started to leave Sakura's mind, and were slowly replaced by, well… women. Not, all women, just one in particular, really. The tall, blonde, gorgeous, example of perfection, with the perfect assets and gorgeous eyes. Not only, was this girl perfect and easily had guys swoon over her, but Sakura had the amazing privilege of having this girl as her rival. Though it was rather self-appointed by the two girls, it became a rather fruitless competition when Sakura saw Ino beating her at everything they competed in. She was even better at things they didn't compete in, just natural everyday tasks. Sakura still had her healing powers over her though, which albeit not much in contrast, was still something. Though, even being completely overshadowed by this girl, Sakura didn't hate her. In fact, it was quite the opposite, really. She was very fond of the other girl. The two had been close in their childhood, but after them both chasing after the aforementioned fellow, they had grown apart. And to Sakura's dismay (as well as the other girl's, unbeknownst to her) they had never really revitalized their friendship.

"Ow, hey! Watch where you're going, forehead!"

Sakura was immediately snapped out of her endless plain of thought as she ran into something. She hadn't been really paying attention, but had still been walking this whole time. It was second nature, muscle memory to know her way around the village. She looked at the other girl, and tried to hide the blush that crept onto her face. Ino was looking gorgeous (as always, of course), even with her furrowed brow and frown.

"Did your forehead block your line of sight, Sakura-Chan?" Ino asked, as a smirk crossed her face.

"No," Sakura replied, patiently, "I was momentarily distracted by a thought. I'm sure you'd be used to that, being so full of yourself." Ino's smirk faded back into a frown. The two had not talked much over the years, just a few exchanges here and there, nothing too friendly, and nothing really with any meaning. Sakura pushed passed Ino to continue her shopping, as she was incredibly hungry, but was, surprisingly, accompanied by the other girl.

"What are you looking for?" Ino asked, looking at the other girl.

"Food, I'm completely out of everything at home." She replied without making eye contact. There was an awkward silence, and Sakura thought she might as well return the advance, to be polite. "What are you here for, Ino-Chan?" She asked, trying not to sound too interested. Because in fact, she wasn't, but she did like having the girl around and didn't want to seem too enthusiastic too early.

"I was just bored, thought I'd come out and do some socializing. It's a Saturday, so I felt like there'd be more chances to see people that were off work." She told. Sakura's next words stung Ino, because she didn't know how untrue they were.

"Why would you come here? You've got so many boyfriends and you're so popular I'm surprised you don't have people with you all the time." Ino, had been in fact, as lonely as Sakura though the past few years. There weren't really any other females around her age that weren't already tied up in a relationship or something else. Hinata was with Naruto, and Shikamaru was with Temari. Tenten was… well Tenten. She hadn't really been the 'best friend' type since Neji had died. Plus her and Hinata already spent enough time together as the latter comforted her.

"Don't be so ignorant, Sakura. I never said I was popular." She said as Sakura purchased some fruit and vegetables from a vendor. The two carried on from stall to stall, Sakura buying copious amounts of food so that she wouldn't have to shop again anytime soon.

"Well, I should probably be heading home now." Sakura told Ino, barely able to see over all the bags she had.

"Oh well… you wouldn't want to, hang out or anything, would you?" Ino asked, covering a slight blush. _Yes, yes, yes, yes yes! _ Sakura thought, but replied coolly with 'sure, whatever'. Her next move wasn't as sly as she stumbled, almost causing her tower of bags to topple over.

"Whoa, hey there, need a hand?" A familiar voice asked. Sakura peered through the bags to see Kiba. He greeted her with a smile and took the majority of her bags, carrying them with ease.

"Thanks a lot, Kiba." She said, smiling. She wasn't in the greatest of moods, but she felt the need to return the boy's large, warm smile. "What are you doing out and about?" She asked him.

"Oh, I was just visiting my mom and sister; I like to get around to seeing them every now and then. It's not as easy now that The Leaf has gotten so big again." He replied casually.

"That's awfully sweet of you." Sakura responded, still smiling.

"Where do you want me to take these?" He asked, resituating himself.

"Oh! Right! Back to my place, Ino and I were heading there right now anyway." She said, looking at the other girl who hadn't spoken this whole time.

"Right, WE were." Ino retorted, putting emphasis on the word. Though her tone was harsh, Kiba took no notice and followed Sakura as she led him back. The walk was about 5 minutes, so she'd be able to muster some small talk.

"Where's Akamaru, and how's he doing?" Sakura asked, looking up at Kiba.

"He's fine, great even! He stayed with my mom; I was going to go pick him up later. He's almost got as close a bond as I do with her!" He replied with a laugh that had a snort in it, causing her to giggle.

Ino walked casually, but was fuming on the inside as the 3 of them made their way to Sakura's house. She didn't hate Kiba, they were friends and all, she just didn't want him around at this point in time. What's worse was Sakura's constant flirting with him as they walked back. They both talked about living on their own, whereas she still lived with her parents. The walk seemed to take ages, but they eventually arrived at Sakura's house, where Kiba helped put away her groceries and bid farewell.


	2. The House

Ino looked around Sakura's house, completely surprised. All previous thoughts of Sakura's advances towards Kiba faded as she looked around. She didn't know what to expect, but it hadn't been this. The house was dirty, and sloppy. The furniture was in desperate need of being cleaned, hell, the whole house was. "Sakura-Chan… you live here?" She asked, trying to contain her disgust.

"Yeah, just me." She replied, sitting down on the couch, causing Ino to wince. "So you wanted to hang out, is anything on your mind?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I didn't have anything at first, but here's an idea," Ino started, examining the room more "let's start with cleaning."

"What?" Sakura asked. She had gotten used to the house; it was already pretty dirty when she purchased it, but she never really realized the severity of it.

"Look around, forehead. This place is a mess!" Ino exclaimed, pointing out particular spots of disgust.

"Wow… I guess you're right." Sakura said, seeing what she meant.

The two spent the whole day scrubbing and cleaning Sakura's house, and actually managed to get it pretty nice looking. The process had taken so long though that night had actually begun to fall, and the sky had turned dark.

"Well, that takes care of the inside." Ino said with a sigh, looking down at her dirty hands. "Blech!" She exclaimed with a gag before washing her hands.

"Thanks a lot, Ino-Chan, but what do you mean, 'the inside'?" She inquired.

"The outside is a mess too, Sakura-Forehead!" Ino said, annoyed. "Honestly, I'd never expect someone like you to live in such filth."

_I never would have either… But things change. _"Things change." She said repeating the last phrase of her thoughts. Ino simply replied with a scowl. She walked over to Sakura, and brushed through her hair, getting out blotches of grime and dirt.

"You used to be so civilized." Ino said, stepping back. "I was always jealous of that, Sakura, you know." She told. "You always had that caring demeanor, but you never swayed from who you were. Smart, talented, pretty…" She let the last word slip, and flung up her hand to cover her mouth with a small 'peep!'

"What was that?" Sakura asked, not sure if she heard right, her heart beat starting to pick up.

Ino hesitated for a moment, but figured she might as well be truthful with her old friend. "Pretty, Sakura. You were always so pretty, with that pink shade of your hair and how you wore it. Your striking green eyes." She explained, "You really were, and still are a thing of beauty."

Sakura was in complete and utter disbelief at the statement. Had Ino really just said what she thought she said? Were the surpressed feelings she had for the blonde mutual? The two both stood there, blushing, before Ino blurted, "I mean that in a platonic way of course." With a nervous giggle.

"Yeah…" Sakura replied, making it sound like she was feeling awkward at the situation, but was really disappointed.

"I-I should go." Ino stuttered awkwardly, before turning to exit.

"Ino, wait!" Sakura shouted, causing the other girl to turn around, "I really had fun today, spending time with you again, like when we were kids. I mean, the cleaning was gross, but, if you'd like to get together again sometime… just ask." Sakura told her. Ino replied with a smile and a thumbs up (a popular trend Naruto had spread around quite well) before vanishing in a blur, off to her own house.

Sakura laid in her, now clean, bed. She was wide awake, her mind a blur with the thoughts of the day. She thought of Ino, and her mind started to venture. She realized it, but figured she'd let her imagination run wild for a bit. Her left hand slowly made its way down her body and into her spandex. She felt her womanhood, completely soaked from her thoughts, and slowly start to rub in circular motions. She moaned and gasped, occasionally whispering the word, "Ino" as her mind ran wild. She picked up the pace and added more pressure to the attention on her clit. She wasn't one for penetration when she masturbated, but did sometimes anyway. She frivolously rubbed, biting down on her other hand as she neared her climax. She grabbed her pillow instead and bit down on it, not risking damage to her hand, and used it to muffle her loud moans. In a village full of ninjas, you never wanted to be too loud. Her eyes shot open wide, and her finger danced around her clitoris as she came, exploding everywhere. She pulled her hand up and out, and exhaustedly wiped it on her bed sheets, before drifting into a soft, pleasant slumber.


	3. Lessons

Ino woke early, as she always did. She loved but hated sleeping in, as pleasant as it was, there were things that needed to be done. She stumbled over to her bathroom, still not fully awake, and looked in her mirror. Her bedhead was ruthless, as always. _I guess it's a small price to pay for having so much hair_. She thought as started to run a comb through it. She took a quick but thorough shower before heading downstairs. She was careful not to wake her mother as she quietly stepped outside. She would have her daily chores to do later, but she loved beautiful and quiet mornings like these. Not many people were awake at this hour since things had calmed down. She peered at a clock through a nearby stores window to see the time was 7:14, which was rather early even for her. She continued walking, not really having a path set and enjoyed Konoha in its new, rebuilt state. She passed by Sai, who was walking on the other side of the street she was following and scowled. She had once been attracted to him, and thought the feeling was mutual when she heard he called her beautiful, but learned shortly after that he was meaning the opposite of what his words told. He ignored her and kept walking, she didn't care where he was going, but she did wonder why he was up so early himself. The thought was brief and she was alerted at the sound of two voices yelling. She made her way towards the ruckus and was not surprised by the sight. Rock Lee and his Sensei, Guy, were in a heated argument (over something stupid, no doubt, she noted). She decided to listen a while longer anyway and learned her assumption was true.

"I said we would be training outside the village today, and you agreed!" Lee shouted.

"And I decided we'd be training in the new room at the gymnasium!" Guy shouted back. The two's foreheads were locked together like a couple of angry bulls. "Do you wish to tell me you're not going to listen to your Sensei, Lee?" Guy asked, causing the younger boy to give up. With a sigh he shrugged and replied: "I suppose not, but I am not responsible for any damage that may occur to the building!" Guy replied with a thumbs up, and the two walked past Ino, talking about something else and completely ignoring the fact she was there. She rolled her eyes and continued on her goalless journey. She walked a little further and 'coincidentally' ended up on the street right in front of Sakura's house. She shrugged and figured she would wake her friend up, putting the awkward moment between the two from last night behind her.

Sakura awoke to a series of knocks on her front door, and scrambled out of bed. She muttered a 'fuck' as she tripped over the bed sheet that had been flung to the floor and made her way to the door. She opened it and with half opened eyes looked at Ino, standing with her hands crossed behind her back, making for a very cute sight. She disregarded the attractiveness of the other girl though, because she had woken her from her sleep early, and she'd better have a good reason.

"What do you want, Ino-pig." She grumbled sleepily. Ino removed her hands from behind her and started fiddling with her hair with one.

"I figured, you know, we could get an early start to the day." She explained. "The sooner we get everything here looking nice, the sooner we can spend more… 'Quality' time together." She said the word quality in an odd fashion, but it was too early for Sakura to think, or even care. She rolled her eyes and slammed the door in the other girls face, which was followed by more loud knocks and many variations of "Sakura, Forehead, and bitch" (not in any necessary order, or making any sense in what order they did happen to be put in). She flung the door back open and shushed the other girl.

"Shut up! Do you want to wake up everyone in a miles radius? Fine, get in here, but I'm not working at this hour." She said, inviting her friend into the house. Ino smiled as she got her way and entered, causing Sakura to scowl. _You always get your way, don't you?_ She thought to herself. "Make yourself at home; I'm going to go freshen up." She said with very feigned enthusiasm, which was easily detectable. Ino nodded and sat on the couch, and waited for the other girl to enter one of the two other rooms in the house. Luckily cleaning the inside didn't take more than a day since the house was the living room and kitchen, Sakura's room and another room she hadn't really done anything with. Ino got up and walked over to the kitchen and found herself some rice, chives, and egg. She figured she'd make Sakura a breakfast, as an apology for waking her up so early, something she was clearly not accustomed to.

Sakura dried herself off with a towel as she stepped out of the shower. She dressed and took a blow-dryer to her hair before combing it down, and looked at herself in the mirror. She thought of Ino's comment from the previous night, calling her pretty and a slight smile formed at her lips. She exited the bedroom and was greeted with an intoxicating aroma. She looked in her kitchen and saw Ino over the stove, making a mixture of what looked like rice, egg, and some vegetable. She looked from the food to Ino, who was wearing an apron and chef's hat (one Naruto had given her as a gag gift, saying it might help her with her cooking). The outfit wasn't really necessary at all, but Sakura didn't mind the whole, 'cute chef' demeanor. "Making some gourmet food, I see." She said, sitting down at the counter opposite the stove. Ino looked up at her and smiled, followed by a little giggle.

"Well, I was planning to surprise you, but it looks like that plan failed. I figured I'd repay you for waking you up so early." She explained.

"Well, if this tastes half as good as it smells, we're solid." Sakura said.

Sakura sighed a sigh of content and slumped back in her chair as she finished her breakfast. Ino, who was still eating, smiled at her friend's happy look, and took another bite. "Are you an angel, Ino? That food was heavenly. I'm not hallucinating right now, right?" Sakura asked. Ino's face turned a deep shade of red at the comment, which she concealed by looking down at her plate and having her hair cover her face.

"N-No! Just some I threw together, nothing special!" She said, her voice cracked, embarrassing her even more.

"If this is something you just throw together, I'd hire you as my personal chef for the rest of my life." Sakura said, getting up from her spot opposite Ino at her table, and moving around behind the blonde girl. She brushed Ino's long ponytail around her right shoulder and leaned over, resting her chin on the left. "You're so talented, Ino-pig." Sakura breathed into her ear, causing her to shudder from the warm breath on her neck. Ino sat straight up and her breathing became short as she felt a kiss be planted on her jawline, under her ear. Sakura slowly planted these butterfly kisses down to her cheek, and one of her hands slowly slid down Ino's arm and onto her chest. She cupped Ino's right breast, and used her left hand to turn the blondes head her way. She slowly leaned in to plant a kiss on her lips, but was surprised when the other girl shot straight up, which in turn caused Sakura to stumble backwards.

"Sakura… I'm not- we can't- I have responsi-… We can't do this now, I'm sorry." She stuttered before quickly exiting the house, leaving Sakura dumbfounded. _I thought I was doing everything right. Did I not wait long enough?_ Sakura asked herself. She slowly stood up, and looked at the table. Ino's plate had flipped over, throwing food over the wooden surface, but she didn't care. She slammed her head against the wall and shouted 'fuck!' loudly, not caring who heard. She had screwed up her first chance at anything in years. She didn't even know if it was a chance at something, but it was gone now. She walked over to one of her cabinets, and pushed it to the side (Well, shoved rather forcefully would be a better way to put it). Which contained a small opening behind it where she kept a bottle of whiskey. She had never opened it before, and Ino had thrown out her wine yesterday, though she doubted the weaker alcohol would help her anyway. She quickly opened the top and took a big swig, followed by another. The smell was horrid and the taste was too strong for her liking, but she didn't really care at this point. She slammed the bottle down on the counter and stumbled to her room. Tears started to pour down her face and she collapsed on the bed, piss drunk and lying spread eagle. She choked trying to swallow air from how much she was crying, before leaning her head over the edge of the bed and vomiting. The rolled over and passed out in her bed, drunk and depressed.


	4. Passion Strikes!

Ino flung her house door open and ran inside, up to her room, before slamming her door and locking it. Her mother was sitting in the kitchen stumped, and closed the front door before walking upstairs and knocking on her daughters door. She heard sobs from inside and asked, "Honey are you alright?" Her reply was a "Not now, mom!" Followed by something slamming into the door. She winced and crept downstairs, leaving Ino alone. Ino, lying in her bed was sobbing like a girl who had just gotten her first period. What were these feelings, and why were they confusing her so much? She had desired Sakura as a friend, but she wasn't going to lie to herself and deny the fact that thoughts of a relationship had crawled into her mind before. She didn't know what she wanted. A friend? A _Girl_friend? She wiped tears from her face and thought, _Dammit, Ino, you're 18, you think you'd have yourself figured out by now._

Sakura and Ino didn't speak for the next week or so, until a meeting was called by Lady Tsunade for all the medical-nins. They both knew what it was, some sort of meeting referring to a new healing technique, and both made sure to stand at opposite sides of the room from each other. Sakura didn't really pay attention to the whole speech, and was rather lost when all the other ninjas started lining up in two rows in front of a desk her and Shizune. She quickly hurried over to the line and slowly progressed, not looking over at Ino, standing in the line directly next to her. As the two both approached the counter Tsunade smiled. "Good to see you two working together." She started, "Sakura, I expect you to help Ino, this is a very difficult task to perform." She told her, before sending the two girls off to one of the test dummies.

"So, what are we doing?" Sakura asked quietly, causing Ino to scowl.

"Weren't you paying attention, forehead?" She said aggressively. She saw Sakura's eyes move to the side to avoid eye contact, and her tone softened. "Here, give me your hand." She said in a voice barely above a hush. Sakura complied and Ino laced their fingers together. "Now redirect your chi to you hand that's locked with mine." Ino told her, as she started herself. Sakura followed the instructions and watched as Ino slowly lowered their hands together onto the dummies chest. A bright green light emitted and caused the girls both to squint. They held it there for a minute before breaking their hold on each other's hands.

"We did it!" Sakura said triumphantly.

"Yeah…" Ino responded, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. The two's eyes met briefly, before them both looking opposite directions and each mumbling something incomprehensible.

The training lasted for quite a while yet as all the other girls mastered the technique, but eventually, late that afternoon, the girls were released to go home. Sakura started in the way of her house, but someone grabbed her hand and pulled her to the side of a building, out of the sight of everyone else. She quickly turned around and looked, recognizing Ino. Her heart started beating insanely fast as the other girl's icy blue eyes pierced hers.

"Sakura…" Ino started, "I'm sorry about what happened before, I was confused but…" her eyes were deadlocked with the pink-haired beauties, "I figured out what I want now. And it's you."

Sakura looked in disbelief at the other girl's words. Was she being serious? "Ino… I-I don't know what to say." She told the blonde girl.

"You don't have to say anything… just kiss me." Ino said, before leaning into the other girl, their lips meeting. It lasted for a few seconds before Sakura pulled away.

"Ino… we need to talk about this more, come to my house tomorrow afternoon." She requested, and Ino nodded.

"I understand, this is surprising. Something new." She said with an almost excited tone. The two looked at each other for a few moments before each turning opposite ways, returning to their homes.

Sakura eagerly answered the door as she heard a fist rap upon it. She greeted Ino, and welcomed her into her home. Things had turned around so fast, but… her mind had started to change to. "You look beautiful today, Sakura-Chan." Ino said, her hand sliding down the other girls face. Sakura led the other girl to the couch, and sat down, prompting her to sit next to her.

"Ino, I have something I have to say right now, and if I don't say it now I don't think I can later." She started, being honest. "In this last week, Kiba was helping me get my mind off you, and trying to cheer me up. And-and… I think I have feelings for him." She admitted not wanting to admit the last sentence.

"B-but Sakura, I thought you had feelings for me?" She asked, worriedly.

"I do! I do." Sakura started, "I have feelings for both of you… I just… I just don't know what to do." She explained

"Do you like him more than me?" Ino inquired, with sad eyes.

"No, Ino, I loved you." Sakura said, putting her hand on the other girl's thigh.

"Love-d?" Ino asked, "You don't anymore?"

"I… don't know… I was so heartbroken the last week I think… I just tried so hard to get rid of those feelings, I thought I had lost you, but now we're here and I-" Sakura started to explain, but was cut off by Ino's finger hushing her. The blonde stood, and turned to leave, but was stopped by Sakura grabbing her hand. Ino looked back, without saying something, and followed Sakura as she pulled her to her room. The two stood in front of Sakura's bed for a moment, looking into each other's eyes, before they crashed together in a fit of passion. Sakura pulled Ino down on top of her and locked lips with her again. Her hands wrapped around Ino's waist and felt her perfect rear end, whereas Ino's hands were on either side of Sakura's face, pulling the other girl to her. Sakura grabbed the bottom of Ino's shirt, and in one swift motion pulled it over her head. The girl was wearing a light blue lacy bra, which easily permitted sight to her large breasts. Sakura handled the large melons with care, until Ino did the same to her. Sakura was not wearing a bra herself, and blushed being completely topless in front of the other girl. She covered her breasts with her hands, and blushed vividly. "Ino… no… they're not very big at all…" She said quietly. Ino responded by peeling Sakura's hands away, and slowly lowering her face to be level with one of the pink buds.

"I think they're perfect… I like small breasts, personally…" Ino trailed off, before lightly attaching her mouth to one of them. Sakura let out a low moan as Ino gently sucked. She wrapped her arms around and behind Ino, and unhooked the other girl's bra. She threw it to the side, and Ino rose from her position at Sakura's breasts. Sakura cupped one of Ino's massive D sized breasts before softly, but still biting down on her pink rosy nipple. Ino squeaked, and ran her hand through Sakura's hair. Sakura remembered a comment from long ago where Ino had told her that she was turned on by being handled roughly. She slowly applied pressure while squeezing the other causing Ino to moan loudly. She looked up at the other girl, who was panting and sweating from her treatment. "S-Sakura…" She whispered, "F-f-finger m-me…" She stuttered on the last part, both of them embarrassed by the request. Sakura thought it was cute nonetheless, and slowly lowered her hand down to the other girl's skirt. As she barely started to slide her hand underneath, she already felt the wetness, it was like a river! Just as she was about to hit the spot, a loud knock on the door sounded, followed by frantic shouting. "Fuck!" Sakura exclaimed, but recognized the voice as lady Tsunade. The two quickly got dressed and Sakura apologized to Ino, who shrugged, for the interruption.

* * *

**So what didyou guys think so far? I have a plan for this part coming up, this is when it gets all action and stuff and it stops being so boring. Leave a review if you feel like you want to, they're always welcome!**


	5. Fire among grass

"L-Lady Tsunade!" Sakura answered as she opened the door. Tsunade took a brief moment to look at Sakura's messed up hair, and Ino standing behind her in the background, but quickly snapped back to reality.

"There's no time to explain, I need you two at the Great Naruto Bridge as soon as possible!" She exclaimed, before darting off. Sakura looked at Ino, who had as puzzled a look on her face as she was sure she did herself.

"She seemed pretty urgent, we should go now." Ino said, and Sakura replied with a "Right!"

The Leaf ninjas murmured amongst themselves, wondering what so many of them were doing here, especially being accompanied by the Sand ninjas. Sakura and Ino arrived and made their way over to the large crowed of Leaf Ninja. She noticed Kiba standing a few meters away, who smiled and waved at her, causing her to blush and wave back. Ino grunted in displeasure but ignored the gesture and looked ahead towards the two forms that stood in front of the mass of ninja.

"As some of you may know," Tsunade started, "there have been many murders and crimes happening over the past few weeks. We recently thought we had caught the criminal, but that was not the case. It seems that there is more than one of these criminals, an organization, we assume." She explained. Startled shouts and whisperings of the words "Akatsuki" passed between the ninjas who hadn't heard of the series of crimes.

"That's right." The other ninja spoke. The fifth Kazekage, Gaara. "These crimes have happened around Konoha as well as Sunagakure. We have reason to believe that the criminals are hiding here, in the Land of Waves." He stated, his voice calm as ever. "Take care, not much is known about these criminals, other than they are very dangerous, and masters of hiding. We do not want any casualties."

"Gaara is right," Tsunade spoke again, "these ninja are not something to be joked about. That's why we'll be splitting you into pairs. The Leaf will come to me, and the Sand will go to Gaara, respectively." She told, walking over to the Leaf to begin the pairings. Sakura noticed from the corner of her eye Gaara doing the same thing. She looked back and tried to listen to the pairs Tsunade was assigning, but couldn't hear over the crowd until she got closer. "Sakura, you'll be with Kiba and Akamaru, and Ino, you'll be with Shino." She said, putting the two pairs together.

"Sakura…" Kiba whispered to his partner as they stood side-by-side with Akamaru sitting next to Kiba. The pairs had been set up in orderly lines, 4 lines of 8 pairs on the Leaf side, and an undetermined number on the Sand side. "Don't look now, but Ino's giving you the death glare. I think she wanted to be partnered with me and is jealous." He said. Sakura peered over at her, and sure enough she was staring with cold eyes, but not at Sakura as Kiba assumed, it was at him they were aimed for. "I said don't look!" He exclaimed, turning her back so she was facing forward. She giggled at his response, she'd never felt so sought after in her life!

The groups of ninja were to be set out at different intervals, the first group would set out on a set pattern, and the second group would follow 10 minutes after on an altered path. This followed through all the way to the eighth line, which would effectively cover the whole forested area ahead of them after so long. The groups would then head back after they had hit the "safe zone" following a different pattern than before, to pick up anything any other groups may have missed. It was a truly great plan thought out by Tsunade and Gaara, but to have so many ninja amassed in one area, they definitely weren't fooling around. The first group had set out what felt like ages ago, and Sakura's group was next. The Leaf's second line consisted of: Tenten and Rock Lee, Kakashi and Yamato, Ino and Shino, and lastly herself and Kiba. Each group had an "anchor team" (In the second line's case, it was Kakashi and Yamato) that were the assigned leaders as well as the considered best team. "Go!" Tsunade's command jerked Sakura out of her thoughts and had her rushing forward. She followed Kiba and Akamaru into the woods, where the real mission began.

"So Kiba, what's the plan here? How should we plan to find these guys, and what should we do in the case that we do?" She asked as they leaped from branch to branch.

"I'll try to smell them out, and you keep a sharp eye. In the case we do find them, if it's a group we'll fight back to back and Akamaru will be at our sides to help." He explained to her. She was surprised at how well he'd actually planned this out, and nodded in response. The two bound forward for a little while longer before Kiba extended his arm forward to halt her. "Wait, someone's been here recently. Someone unfamiliar." He told her as they stopped above a clearing. He dropped down and sniffed the air, Akamaru and Sakura following behind him. She watched as Kiba sensed the air around him. He extended his arm once again, signaling for her to stay back. Kiba slowly walked forward, closer to the origin of the scent. "Here, something happened here." He said pointing to a tree on the right side, which was parallel to another on the left. He took another step forward, and Akamaru started barking and yipping frantically. The alert was just in time for Kiba to jump back out of the way as a series of small explosions set off.

"Go!" Tsunade shouted, and Ino and Shino shot off into the forest with the rest of line 2.

"So, Shino, how do you want to go about this?" She asked him as they moved quickly.

"I have bugs already all over this forest that are set to relay information. For now we search with our eyes, and await any response…" He replied. Ino gagged at the thought of hundreds of thousands of bugs living inside the boy. She always thought Shino was creepy. He wasn't rude and did nothing in the past to have brought on the thoughts, it was just the bugs. Ino hated bugs. The two moved silently through the forest, picking up nothing but very subtle traces of line 1. Not a word was uttered, but suddenly Shino stopped, causing her to stop hard to and almost fall of the branch she landed on.

"What is it?" She asked, looking at him.

"The bugs have noticed something." He told her, looking to their right.

"Which is…?" Ino asked, before hearing a loud 'BOOM!' not too far.

"That." He replied, before heading off in the direction.

Sakura jumped in surprise at the noise, and dashed over to catch Kiba as he fell back after his landing. She stood him up and was relieved that he was okay when he turned around. Well, relatively okay. Definitely not the best. She opened her mouth in surprise and pointed at Kiba's shoulder. He looked down and his eyes widened. He must not have noticed from the shock, but definitely felt the pain once he saw it. A kunai was lodged deeply into his left shoulder. He grabbed it, and forcefully removed it, causing Sakura to wince and Akamaru to bark, as well as blood to go everywhere. "Kiba!" She exclaimed at his action. She reached into one of the pockets on her vest and pulled out a long, folded strip of cloth. Being a medical-nin, she never failed to carry around things that could be of use. She removed his vest, and carefully removed his shirt, trying to move his arm as little as possible. Once the clothing had been removed, she wrapped the cloth around his shoulder and armpit as a tourniquet, and tied it off at the top of his shoulder. "Okay, that should be good for now, but I have to get you to somewhere safe to start preforming the Mystical Palm." She said looking at Kiba who had sat down, with his legs crossed next to Akamaru. "Shit." She muttered, "It was in there really deep." She began to think of what she would do to help him, when Kakashi and Yamato arrived.

"What happened?" Yamato asked hurriedly, and his reply was Sakura pointing towards the large burn marks between the two trees. Yamato moved there, while Kakashi moved to Sakura and Kiba.

"How is he doing?" Kakashi inquired, "Not too much blood loss?"

"He's fine, now that you're here I can get around to healing him." She said, as herself and her Sensei leaned Kiba back into a lying position.

"Ow! This really fuckin' hurts!" Kiba said annoyed, and in pain. Sakura began to preform her Mystical Palm, when Yamato came back over to the three. "It was a trap set up by a trip-wire. The tags were rigged to explode, the explosion set off kunai to hit you if you managed to dodge the explosion, like in your case." Yamato explained. He pointed to a tree at the far end of the clearing where two other Kunai were deeply lodged. "You're lucky those two missed you, and even luckier it missed any vital areas. The explosion really propelled those things."

"But now, anyone in the vicinity will know we're here, and they'd have be gone within a matter of minutes." Kakashi said, standing up. "Yamato, go report this to the Hokage, I'll stay here with these two and make sure nothing happens."


End file.
